I go outside and the smoking stink from my neighbors completely ruins my outside experience and comes into my open windows and screen doors. As I sit at a traffic light, the smoking stink from the driver of the car in front of me causes me to close my car windows. I feel this is a personal attack on my right to clean air and their (smokers) contribution to air pollution. I am not only subjected to the odor and toxins of the "burning" product but the stench and toxins coming from another person's body; like a fart, only worse. In fact, the air pollution emitted by cigarettes is 10 times greater than diesel car exhaust.

Emergency Preparations: Let's, for a moment, consider the effects of smoking on the smoker when it comes to preparing for an emergency. Smoking prematurely depletes the health of the smoker and those routinely affected by their 2nd-hand smoke. Attempting escape from an emergency situation could be hampered or fatal simply because of the inability to breath normally. Additionally, financial resources, best spent on healthier activities, emergency preparations and regular living expenses, go up in smoke.

Cost: Like drug addicts, smokers are willingly paying to be poisoned and then paying for other products (like mints, chewing gum, personal products, air fresheners, etc.) to cover up their stink and medical expenses to treat ailments caused by their habit. Now, stop and think about how much money a smoker will spend on cigarettes in a year, 5 years, 15 years, or during their entire lifetime. According to LUNG.ORG the average price of a pack of cigarettes in the United States is approximately $5.5. Now this may not seem like that much, until you consider how many of those purchased in a year. Each year, a person who smokes one pack per day will spend $2,011 on cigarettes alone. If 2 or 3 packs a day, in a year the loss is $4,022 and $6,033 on cigarettes, respectively. Studies indicate that the lifetime cost of cigarettes for the average smoker varies between over One Million and over Two Million depending on where they live. In addition to the direct costs of tobacco, researchers have discovered a significant wage gap between smokers and non-smokers caused by productivity loss, health-related absences and workplace bias. Adding up all the losses (wallet, health, productivity) that smoking cigarettes can cause; a figure as high as over $7,000 every year for an average one pack a day smoker, $35,000 in 5 years, and $105,000 over a 15-year period.

By the way, there Is No Constitutional Right to Smoke. Opponents argue that such smoke-free legislation/laws interfere with individuals' legal rights. But legal precedents shows the U.S. Constitution leaves the door wide open for state and local laws limiting smoking including the use of eCigarettes/vaping. Why should the use of tobacco be considered a "right" when it is, according to the CDC, the leading cause of preventable disease, disability, and death in the United States?

There is nothing good, and a whole lot of bad, about smoking. While there are a ton of reasons why the sale and use of tobacco products should be banned, it is obvious that smokers are so enslaved by this habit that they won't stop and the manufacturers aren't going to voluntarily stop producing. Thankfully, many businesses and communities see how detrimental smoking (tobacco and vaping) is and have banned it but it is up to those who care about personal clean air to find ways to ban smoking altogether.